Developed by the new Inti Creates and co-produced by Keiji Inafune, back then, he still was the proud face of the franchise, and together, they managed to create a mature dark story what in my opinion was the most engrossing to delve into, which would normally take a backseat with previous series.
A century after the conclusion of the Mega Man X timeline, Zero re-awakens in a new barren world where humans and Reploids still are at war with each other, and is unsure about the situation, until deciding to protect the resistance and their leader Ciel.
Due to a energy crisis, the Reploids are blamed by mankind, and thus a genocidal crusade is executed by Copy X who presides over Neo Arcadia, in order to reduce energy consumption, and any rebellions.
Zero's new enemies including the Four Guardians feel as if they are doing it for a just cause, but he opposes them for the in discriminated violence, and seeks to find out what happened to his best friend, and to discover the truth.
I have to admit, the first part of this game before I got to Neo Arcadia the first time was dull, mostly because of the mission structure. Combined with the difficulty level, which is more so than most Mega Man games, Mega Man Zero was and remains a tough cookie.
Cyber Elves are introduced as a main feature and lore in the sense that they add various abilities and effects towards Zero during the action bases gameplay, which is as you would remember from the X series, but now it is based on a new setting, and it also features stylish death animations for Zero's saber to slice through.
Just as I was warming up towards the structure and formula of the game, it ends openly, begging for a sequel to be made. And luckily, Inti Creates complied.
Rating: 8.0
One year after the defeat of Neo Arcadia's leadership, Zero wanders in a desert, and continues to combat any foes thrown at his way, until collapsing of energy. After getting carried and recovered back to the resistance by an unlikely figure, Ciel is trying to end the war peacefully through development of a new energy source.
The new leading figure of the resistance named Elpizo instead uses a militaristic approach to assault Neo Arcadia, and fatally loses the battle. While Zero is busy fighting off the remaining Neo Arcadians, Elpizo eventually discovers and absorbs the Dark Elf, an insidious Cyber Elf capable of corruption.
Originally it was known as the Mother Elf which brought the cure towards Mavericks and the Maverick Virus in the past, but now it has been tainted dark, and it serves an evil purpose. Zero's friend X plays a more active supportive role, now portrayed as a Cyber Elf as well, and explains the backstory and motivation for the current events.
Mega Man Zero 2 is a step up in all aspects, including the soundtrack which just sounds better, the improved gameplay, the newly added weapon rod and the overall presentation. It also features a classic stage select interface, and Burble Hekelot is an entertaining boss to fight.
Rating: 8.5
The best one yet, but also the easiest to beat. This game had one of if not the most impressive stories told in Mega Man history so far in my opinion, and with a twist reveal like that during the climax final boss phase, they really made a special product in here.
The Dark Elf's true origins are explained and displayed, Copy X is resurrected, the Eight Gentle Judges are sent with extreme justice after Zero, the Four Guardians struggle in the overall conflict, and the major antagonist Omega is revealed.
And all of that just because my favorite Mega Man villain is introduced in here, who is pulling all of the strings, which is Dr.Weil, an exiled scientist punished for his inception of the Elf Wars, the corruption of the Dark Elf and the usage of Omega, and for that, his cyborg body continues to regenerate damage indefinitely.
The Secret Disk system is interesting for lore which makes fans of the story even more happy, as they contain lots of info about Mega Man history. Cyberspace is another new feature which again affects gameplay and lore further, affecting your mission results amongst others
Furthermore, Mega Man Zero 3 has the most bosses, the best music and the first secret boss in the Zero series, plus hidden mini games. It's extremely easy to persevere and play through it because it's just awesome to experience it's story, stages and presentation.
Rating: 9.0
The finale to all of the wars. Emphasizes less on the incredible story from Zero 3, but still has the most satisfying ending for a Mega Man game yet, because it literally ends all of the fighting. With Neo Arcadia's old leadership now truly gone, Weil is leading now, and he plans his revenge on humans and Reploids even bigger as he plans to unleash Ragnarok.
With an operation led by his new loyal figure Craft and his combat unit the Einherjar Warriors, all nature must cease to exist surrounding Neo Arcadia, so that Weil forces all humans and Reploids to return and live under his rule.
Mega Man Zero 4 gives us the Zero Knuckle instead of a rod from the previous games, which is fun, too bad that it’s awkward designed to throw each stolen part away. The weather system doubles as a difficulty and stage changer.
The multifunctional Cyber Elf makes things simpler, but I never played around with it too much. The music is arguably the best in the series, and Tech Kraken is easily my favorite Neo Arcadian with a mind blowing stage theme. The difficulty is fair and square, and sub tanks are your friend, even in Hard Mode. And of course the gameplay is more of the same satisfying quality.
It ends on a very high note as Zero defines his reason for fighting towards the psychological, megalomaniac al and evil Dr.Weil, who in return states that despite all of his actions and behavior, that he is still human under his current body, implying that he cannot strike him down fundamentally.
Mega Man Zero 4 is the best ending that any Mega Man game or series could have gotten, and I am so glad that Capcom left it alone and pure, so that the focus could be done on other series anno 2005, but mannn do I crave for a revival of any kind from the franchise right now!
Rating: 9.1
P.S. I am also the proud owner of the Zero Complete Works, a book containing all of the official information regarding this series.
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